CPT 00192: Anesthesia for Radical Facial Bones or Skull Surgery
CPT code 00192 designates anesthesia services for radical surgical procedures on the facial bones or skull, including management of operative cases such as prognathism repair. This code is used to document the anesthetic care required for complex craniofacial and maxillofacial surgeries that often require advanced airway management and intraoperative physiologic monitoring. Nationally, accurate use of this code matters for clinical documentation, appropriate payment for high-acuity anesthesia services, and aggregation of utilization data for surgical specialties.
Key payers included in this overview are Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, United Healthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise briefing on clinical context and service setting, a summary of common modifiers and associated provider taxonomies, and references to related anesthesia codes. The publication also outlines ICD-10 diagnostic contexts commonly billed with this service and highlights a closely related code, 00190, for facial bones or skull anesthesia when not otherwise specified.
This summary equips anesthesiology groups, perioperative billing teams, and health plan analysts with the information needed to identify where 00192 applies in practice, what clinical scenarios typically generate the code, and which payers are relevant for prior authorization and claims adjudication workflows. Data not available in the input: detailed national utilization rates and payer-specific reimbursement benchmarks.
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Billing Code Overview
CPT code 00192 describes anesthesia services provided for a patient undergoing radical surgical procedures on the facial bones or skull, including procedures to address prognathism (protrusion of the lower jaw). This service involves administration and management of anesthesia tailored to complex craniofacial or maxillofacial operations.
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Service type: Anesthesia for radical facial bones or skull surgery
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Typical site of service: Operating room or surgical suite in an acute care hospital or ambulatory surgical center
National Reimbursement Benchmarks
Commercial national rates for CPT 00192 cluster around the BUCA average of $90.90, with payers varying in central tendency: Aetna shows a high mean of $172.10 and a wide spread, while Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield have mean/median levels closer to BUCA. UnitedHealth Group’s central tendency ($67.50 mean, $64 median) sits below BUCA, indicating generally lower average reimbursements among the largest payers. Max/min extremes are notable for Aetna ($628.70/$30.10) and Cigna (max $151.60, min $46.00), illustrating upper-tail variability for some commercial contracts.
Dispersion measured by the interquartile range (P75–P25) highlights which payers are tight or wide: Aetna’s IQR is $196.00 (P75 $245.50 minus P25 $49.50), the widest, reflecting substantial contract variability; Cigna’s IQR is $53.30 ($121.10–$68.80) and BUCA’s IQR is $66.70 ($120.00–$53.30), indicating moderate spread; Blue Cross Blue Shield’s IQR is $40.70 and UnitedHealth Group is the tightest at $29.00, suggesting more consistent commercial rates for those payers.